Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA) Theseshttp://hdl.handle.net/10023/2042018-02-18T05:10:57Z2018-02-18T05:10:57ZTowards a eucharistic theatre : the theatrical theologies of the Reduta, the Rhapsodic Theatre, and Grotowski's LabMatson, Cole C.E.http://hdl.handle.net/10023/120062017-11-06T15:25:11Z2016-06-21T00:00:00ZThis thesis explores the use of eucharistic language in the theatre theories of three different mid-20th-century Polish theatre companies--the Reduta Theatre, the Rhapsodic Theatre, and the Laboratory Theatre--especially as expressed in the writings of their respective primary founders: Juliusz Osterwa, Mieczysław Kotlarczyk, and Jerzy Grotowski. The thesis also describes how the Rhapsodic and Laboratory Theatres inherited different elements of the Reduta tradition, and how those two diverging branches of the Reduta's legacy have affected contemporary theatre. In addition, the thesis examines how different 20th-century theatre theorists have related the eucharist to theatre, and evaluates the legitimacy of the claim that religious rituals such as the eucharist can and ought to be replaced by secular theatrical rituals. Special attention is paid to Carl Lavery's three views of the sacred: secular, theological, and a/theological. Alexander Schmemann's conception of the eucharist is used to correct Lavery's presentation of the theological sacred and to argue for the possibility of a Christian sacred theatre, or a "eucharistic theatre." The thesis defines the concept of a eucharistic theatre; demonstrates the extent to which the Reduta, Rhapsodic, and Laboratory Theatres meet this definition; and suggests some ways in which a eucharistic theatre may be created today.
2016-06-21T00:00:00ZMatson, Cole C.E.This thesis explores the use of eucharistic language in the theatre theories of three different mid-20th-century Polish theatre companies--the Reduta Theatre, the Rhapsodic Theatre, and the Laboratory Theatre--especially as expressed in the writings of their respective primary founders: Juliusz Osterwa, Mieczysław Kotlarczyk, and Jerzy Grotowski. The thesis also describes how the Rhapsodic and Laboratory Theatres inherited different elements of the Reduta tradition, and how those two diverging branches of the Reduta's legacy have affected contemporary theatre. In addition, the thesis examines how different 20th-century theatre theorists have related the eucharist to theatre, and evaluates the legitimacy of the claim that religious rituals such as the eucharist can and ought to be replaced by secular theatrical rituals. Special attention is paid to Carl Lavery's three views of the sacred: secular, theological, and a/theological. Alexander Schmemann's conception of the eucharist is used to correct Lavery's presentation of the theological sacred and to argue for the possibility of a Christian sacred theatre, or a "eucharistic theatre." The thesis defines the concept of a eucharistic theatre; demonstrates the extent to which the Reduta, Rhapsodic, and Laboratory Theatres meet this definition; and suggests some ways in which a eucharistic theatre may be created today.A liberative imagination : reconsidering the fiction of Charlotte Brontë in light of feminist theologySwanson, Kjhttp://hdl.handle.net/10023/110512017-06-23T14:36:23Z2017-06-20T00:00:00ZThis thesis seeks to show the ways in which Charlotte Brontë’s fiction anticipates the concerns of contemporary feminist theology. Whilst Charlotte Brontë’s novels have held a place of honor in feminist literary criticism for decades, there has been a critical tendency to associate the proto-feminism of Brontë’s narratives with a rejection of Christianity—namely, that Brontë’s heroines achieve their personal, social and spiritual emancipation by throwing off the shackles of a patriarchal Church Establishment. And although recent scholarly interest in Victorian Christianity has led to frequent interpretations that regard Brontë’s texts as upholding a Christian worldview, in many such cases, the theology asserted in those interpretations arguably undermines the liberative impulse of the narratives. In both cases, the religious and romantic plots of Brontë’s novels are viewed as incompatible. This thesis suggests that by reading Brontë’s fiction in light of an interdisciplinary perspective that interweaves feminist and theological concerns, the narrative journeys of Brontë’s heroines might be read as affirming both Christian faith and female empowerment. Specifically, this thesis will examine the ways in which feminist theologians have identified the need for Christian doctrines of sin and grace to be articulated in a manner that better reflects women’s experiences. By exploring the interrelationship between women’s writing and women’s faith, particularly as it relates to the literary origins of feminist theology and Brontë’s position within the nineteenth-century female publishing boom, Brontë’s liberative imagination for female flourishing can be re-examined. As will be argued, when considered from the vantage point of feminist theology, 'Jane Eyre', 'Shirley', and 'Villette' portray women’s need to experience grace as self-construction and interdependence rather than self-denial and subjugation.
2017-06-20T00:00:00ZSwanson, KjThis thesis seeks to show the ways in which Charlotte Brontë’s fiction anticipates the concerns of contemporary feminist theology. Whilst Charlotte Brontë’s novels have held a place of honor in feminist literary criticism for decades, there has been a critical tendency to associate the proto-feminism of Brontë’s narratives with a rejection of Christianity—namely, that Brontë’s heroines achieve their personal, social and spiritual emancipation by throwing off the shackles of a patriarchal Church Establishment. And although recent scholarly interest in Victorian Christianity has led to frequent interpretations that regard Brontë’s texts as upholding a Christian worldview, in many such cases, the theology asserted in those interpretations arguably undermines the liberative impulse of the narratives. In both cases, the religious and romantic plots of Brontë’s novels are viewed as incompatible. This thesis suggests that by reading Brontë’s fiction in light of an interdisciplinary perspective that interweaves feminist and theological concerns, the narrative journeys of Brontë’s heroines might be read as affirming both Christian faith and female empowerment. Specifically, this thesis will examine the ways in which feminist theologians have identified the need for Christian doctrines of sin and grace to be articulated in a manner that better reflects women’s experiences. By exploring the interrelationship between women’s writing and women’s faith, particularly as it relates to the literary origins of feminist theology and Brontë’s position within the nineteenth-century female publishing boom, Brontë’s liberative imagination for female flourishing can be re-examined. As will be argued, when considered from the vantage point of feminist theology, 'Jane Eyre', 'Shirley', and 'Villette' portray women’s need to experience grace as self-construction and interdependence rather than self-denial and subjugation.Truth incarnate : story as sacrament in the mythopoeic thought and fiction of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. TolkienBuchanan, Travis Walkerhttp://hdl.handle.net/10023/78602016-08-09T09:28:19Z2015-11-30T00:00:00ZThe thesis is organized as two sections of two chapters each: the first section establishes a theoretical framework of a broad and reinvigorated Christian sacramentality within which to situate the second—an investigation of the theories and practice of the mythopoeic art of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien in this sacramental light.
The first chapter acknowledges the thoroughgoing disenchantment of modernity, an effect traced to the vanishing of a sacramental understanding of the world, and then explores the history of the sacramental concept that would seek to be reclaimed and reconceived as a possible means of the re-enchantment of Western culture such as in the recent work of David Brown.
An appreciative critique of Brown’s work is offered in chapter two before proposing an alternative understanding of a distinctly Christian and reinvigorated sacramentality anchored in the Incarnation and operating by Transposition. A notion of sacramental vision is developed from the perceptual basis in its classic definitions, and a sacramental understanding of story is considered from a theological perspective on the infinite generativity of meaning in texts, along with recent theories of affect and affordance.
The second half of the thesis expounds the views of mythopoeia held by Lewis and Tolkien in order to show how they are not only compatible with but lead to a sacramental understanding of story as developed in part one, with mythopoeia affording the recovery of a potentially transformative vision of reality, awakening it into focus in distinctly Christian ways (chapter three). The final chapter demonstrates how their mythopoeic theories are exemplified in their art, examining specific ways Till We Have Faces and The Lord of the Rings afford the recovery of a potentially transformative vision of various themes central to them. In closing it is suggested that such a sacramental understanding of story may contribute to the re-enchantment of Western culture, not to mention the re-mythologization and re-envisaging of Christianity, whose significance in these regards has been hitherto mostly unrecognized.
2015-11-30T00:00:00ZBuchanan, Travis WalkerThe thesis is organized as two sections of two chapters each: the first section establishes a theoretical framework of a broad and reinvigorated Christian sacramentality within which to situate the second—an investigation of the theories and practice of the mythopoeic art of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien in this sacramental light.
The first chapter acknowledges the thoroughgoing disenchantment of modernity, an effect traced to the vanishing of a sacramental understanding of the world, and then explores the history of the sacramental concept that would seek to be reclaimed and reconceived as a possible means of the re-enchantment of Western culture such as in the recent work of David Brown.
An appreciative critique of Brown’s work is offered in chapter two before proposing an alternative understanding of a distinctly Christian and reinvigorated sacramentality anchored in the Incarnation and operating by Transposition. A notion of sacramental vision is developed from the perceptual basis in its classic definitions, and a sacramental understanding of story is considered from a theological perspective on the infinite generativity of meaning in texts, along with recent theories of affect and affordance.
The second half of the thesis expounds the views of mythopoeia held by Lewis and Tolkien in order to show how they are not only compatible with but lead to a sacramental understanding of story as developed in part one, with mythopoeia affording the recovery of a potentially transformative vision of reality, awakening it into focus in distinctly Christian ways (chapter three). The final chapter demonstrates how their mythopoeic theories are exemplified in their art, examining specific ways Till We Have Faces and The Lord of the Rings afford the recovery of a potentially transformative vision of various themes central to them. In closing it is suggested that such a sacramental understanding of story may contribute to the re-enchantment of Western culture, not to mention the re-mythologization and re-envisaging of Christianity, whose significance in these regards has been hitherto mostly unrecognized.The sacred–secular distinction in music during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Austria and BavariaMayr, Christoph Davidhttp://hdl.handle.net/10023/69242016-03-28T13:05:47Z2015-06-23T00:00:00ZThis thesis explores the sacred–secular distinction in the musical life of Austria and Bavaria during the eighteenth and nineteenth century with particular focus on its legitimacy and feasibility. It examines the attempts made by Joseph II of Austria to separate sacred and secular sphere by banning secular music from the church and finds them to have failed. Joseph’s endeavours are compared to those of the Cecilian Movement, which, although similar in their aim, are found to be motivated very differently, yet equally unsuccessful. A study of the rise of the public concert and choral societies points towards new loci for secular music as well as the spiritual experience of music. Finally Anton Bruckner is discussed as an example for filling old and new loci with a successful synthesis of sacred and secular, both in his lived life and his musical composition. Bringing sacred and secular together conforms to the natural state of Christian life in the world and bears the potential for mutual benefit which outweighs the presumed advantages of distinct lines of separation.
2015-06-23T00:00:00ZMayr, Christoph DavidThis thesis explores the sacred–secular distinction in the musical life of Austria and Bavaria during the eighteenth and nineteenth century with particular focus on its legitimacy and feasibility. It examines the attempts made by Joseph II of Austria to separate sacred and secular sphere by banning secular music from the church and finds them to have failed. Joseph’s endeavours are compared to those of the Cecilian Movement, which, although similar in their aim, are found to be motivated very differently, yet equally unsuccessful. A study of the rise of the public concert and choral societies points towards new loci for secular music as well as the spiritual experience of music. Finally Anton Bruckner is discussed as an example for filling old and new loci with a successful synthesis of sacred and secular, both in his lived life and his musical composition. Bringing sacred and secular together conforms to the natural state of Christian life in the world and bears the potential for mutual benefit which outweighs the presumed advantages of distinct lines of separation.Overhearing : Hindu & Christian perspectives on artistryHearn, Emily K.http://hdl.handle.net/10023/65002016-03-28T13:07:13Z2014-12-01T00:00:00ZThis thesis is concerned with the hypothesis that an intellectual conversation between Christian and Hindu traditions on questions of aesthetic concern may not only prove mutually illuminating as such but also touch obliquely upon matters of religious and theological concern without exciting the defensive response often posed by more familiar strategies of inter-faith ‘dialogue’. It seeks to establish the existence of sufficient conditions for such a conversation within the respective traditions.
The Introduction considers the relevant model of ‘conversation’ distinguishing it from other forms of encounter between religious traditions. It proceeds by identifying three shared concerns: freedom and constraint, aesthetic experience and religious encounters, and the relationship between the material artwork and its significance.
The first three chapters address them by examining various elements in Hindu traditions, including a detailed treatment of the Śilpaśāstras, a comprehensive consideration of the concept of rasa and its relation to religious experience, and an exploration of the role of the senses in scriptural traditions, the importance of Form and the value of the art object as a devotional aid. Finally it outlines the notion darśan, of seeing and being seen by a deity through a material image.
The last three chapters address them by examining the work of Christian theologians including Dorothy Sayers on Art as Idea, exploring bequeathed traditions in iconography and the music of John Tavener, and expounding Tolkien’s category of ‘sub-creation’. It considers the work of David Brown, Richard Viladesau, John Ruskin, Frank Burch Brown and Abraham Kuyper who span a putative spectrum of equating aesthetic and religious experience at one end and strictly demarcating between them at the other end. It explores the relationship of the physical art object with its spiritual significance in the work of Dorothy Sayers, John Carey, Rowan Williams, David Brown and Trevor Hart.
2014-12-01T00:00:00ZHearn, Emily K.This thesis is concerned with the hypothesis that an intellectual conversation between Christian and Hindu traditions on questions of aesthetic concern may not only prove mutually illuminating as such but also touch obliquely upon matters of religious and theological concern without exciting the defensive response often posed by more familiar strategies of inter-faith ‘dialogue’. It seeks to establish the existence of sufficient conditions for such a conversation within the respective traditions.
The Introduction considers the relevant model of ‘conversation’ distinguishing it from other forms of encounter between religious traditions. It proceeds by identifying three shared concerns: freedom and constraint, aesthetic experience and religious encounters, and the relationship between the material artwork and its significance.
The first three chapters address them by examining various elements in Hindu traditions, including a detailed treatment of the Śilpaśāstras, a comprehensive consideration of the concept of rasa and its relation to religious experience, and an exploration of the role of the senses in scriptural traditions, the importance of Form and the value of the art object as a devotional aid. Finally it outlines the notion darśan, of seeing and being seen by a deity through a material image.
The last three chapters address them by examining the work of Christian theologians including Dorothy Sayers on Art as Idea, exploring bequeathed traditions in iconography and the music of John Tavener, and expounding Tolkien’s category of ‘sub-creation’. It considers the work of David Brown, Richard Viladesau, John Ruskin, Frank Burch Brown and Abraham Kuyper who span a putative spectrum of equating aesthetic and religious experience at one end and strictly demarcating between them at the other end. It explores the relationship of the physical art object with its spiritual significance in the work of Dorothy Sayers, John Carey, Rowan Williams, David Brown and Trevor Hart.A "proper job" : acting as vocation and work in theological perspective with particular reference to Dorothy L SayersStarks, Gwendolyn Aileen Paceyhttp://hdl.handle.net/10023/63902017-07-14T16:15:27Z2014-06-24T00:00:00ZIn this dissertation, I will be looking at the actor as a craftsperson and artist from
both a secular and a theological standpoint in order to determine if the labour of acting
can be considered both as work, a “proper job”; and as a calling from God, a vocation.
The main questions prompting and shaping this dissertation have arisen out of my own
personal experience as an actor struggling both in the performing arts business and with
my Christian faith. So, the opening chapter will introduce a personal background
approach to the dissertation. It will summarize the experiences that brought me to the
place of asking these two questions. It will also serve as an introduction to the life of
Dorothy L. Sayers, outlining her own life and demonstrating why she is important to our
work as actors. Chapter Two will then cover historical data on Anti-Theatrical
Prejudice, laying the foundation for the ongoing discomfort with and misunderstanding
regarding the actor’s craft. Chapters Three and Four will examine separately our
notions of work (Three) and then of vocation (Four) in order to gain a broader view of
these two terms. At this point, we will have laid the path to reintroduce Dorothy L.
Sayers in Chapters Five, Six and Seven, both as a partner in conversation and as one
who held this broader understanding of the terms work and vocation and applied them
to creative activities, in particular acting. The final chapter will look at acting as
connected to the basic features of life. It, among other things, will revisit some of the
anti-theatre argument; pick up on ideas such as the imagination’s ability to rehearse life;
and will examine some uses of acting as a means of human exploration and social
change. Finally, we will explore the artistry, technique, and craft of the actor, to firmly
establish the place of acting in society as an important task, a “proper job,” and a
Christian vocation.
2014-06-24T00:00:00ZStarks, Gwendolyn Aileen PaceyIn this dissertation, I will be looking at the actor as a craftsperson and artist from
both a secular and a theological standpoint in order to determine if the labour of acting
can be considered both as work, a “proper job”; and as a calling from God, a vocation.
The main questions prompting and shaping this dissertation have arisen out of my own
personal experience as an actor struggling both in the performing arts business and with
my Christian faith. So, the opening chapter will introduce a personal background
approach to the dissertation. It will summarize the experiences that brought me to the
place of asking these two questions. It will also serve as an introduction to the life of
Dorothy L. Sayers, outlining her own life and demonstrating why she is important to our
work as actors. Chapter Two will then cover historical data on Anti-Theatrical
Prejudice, laying the foundation for the ongoing discomfort with and misunderstanding
regarding the actor’s craft. Chapters Three and Four will examine separately our
notions of work (Three) and then of vocation (Four) in order to gain a broader view of
these two terms. At this point, we will have laid the path to reintroduce Dorothy L.
Sayers in Chapters Five, Six and Seven, both as a partner in conversation and as one
who held this broader understanding of the terms work and vocation and applied them
to creative activities, in particular acting. The final chapter will look at acting as
connected to the basic features of life. It, among other things, will revisit some of the
anti-theatre argument; pick up on ideas such as the imagination’s ability to rehearse life;
and will examine some uses of acting as a means of human exploration and social
change. Finally, we will explore the artistry, technique, and craft of the actor, to firmly
establish the place of acting in society as an important task, a “proper job,” and a
Christian vocation.Aesthesis and ascesis : the relationship between the arts and spiritual formationMcCullough, James J.http://hdl.handle.net/10023/37552016-03-28T12:40:52Z2013-01-01T00:00:00ZThe general claim of the thesis is that the exercise and development of skills and capacities related to sensory perception can contribute positively to the process commonly referred to as spiritual formation. The dynamics of aesthesis and ascesis can be perceived as existing in a symbiotic
relationship, encouraging and reinforcing the potentials of the other toward the development of a vibrant, discerning Christian spirituality. The arts can help mediate this relationship, and in doing so can be said to catalyze these dynamics.
In order to maximize the catalytic potentials of the arts for lay formation, a definition of art is employed that identifies art as the result of a combination of craft, content and context. Accent is placed on the communicability and cognitive cogency of art in this analysis. In order to argue for the moral and spiritual efficacy of the arts, resources from aesthetics, ethics and human development
theory as appropriated within practical theology are explored. A variant on virtue ethics that emphasizes the morally-formative potential of narrative is highlighted as the correlative to the claim that works of
art can be seen as conveyers through which an ‘inhabitable’ sense of worldview, the truth-claims of which are insinuated effectively or ineffectively according to the relative strength of the artistic
utterance. It is through the inhabitation or indwelling of the story so conveyed that art exerts its spiritually formative influence.
2013-01-01T00:00:00ZMcCullough, James J.The general claim of the thesis is that the exercise and development of skills and capacities related to sensory perception can contribute positively to the process commonly referred to as spiritual formation. The dynamics of aesthesis and ascesis can be perceived as existing in a symbiotic
relationship, encouraging and reinforcing the potentials of the other toward the development of a vibrant, discerning Christian spirituality. The arts can help mediate this relationship, and in doing so can be said to catalyze these dynamics.
In order to maximize the catalytic potentials of the arts for lay formation, a definition of art is employed that identifies art as the result of a combination of craft, content and context. Accent is placed on the communicability and cognitive cogency of art in this analysis. In order to argue for the moral and spiritual efficacy of the arts, resources from aesthetics, ethics and human development
theory as appropriated within practical theology are explored. A variant on virtue ethics that emphasizes the morally-formative potential of narrative is highlighted as the correlative to the claim that works of
art can be seen as conveyers through which an ‘inhabitable’ sense of worldview, the truth-claims of which are insinuated effectively or ineffectively according to the relative strength of the artistic
utterance. It is through the inhabitation or indwelling of the story so conveyed that art exerts its spiritually formative influence.Making a place on Earth : participation in creation and redemption through placemaking and the artsCraft, Jennifer Allenhttp://hdl.handle.net/10023/37322016-10-18T23:17:08Z2013-06-25T00:00:00ZThis thesis will explore a theology of place and placemaking that is focused on the participatory role of humans in both creation and redemption, while suggesting the central and paradigmatic role of artistry in our construction of and identification with place. Building on the most recent theological and philosophical engagement with place, this thesis will argue for a theology of place that takes seriously the doctrines of creation and incarnation, focusing on a particularly redemptive understanding of placemaking in the material world. In its study of scripture and theology, it will focus on God’s blessing of people to participate in the making of places, along with the role this human making has in relationship to divine presence and the divine plan for creation and redemption. After developing a theology of place and placemaking more generally, the second half of this thesis will consider the practical, constructive, and transformative capabilities of placemaking as witnessed through the arts. Relying on theological engagement with the arts, it will argue that artistic making of all kinds and attention to place go hand in hand. Exploring a selection of artistic genres, including the photography of Marlene Creates, the quilts of Gee’s Bend, and the literature of Wendell Berry, this thesis will suggest that imaginative and “artistic” placemaking practices can give us a deeper understanding of the creative, redemptive, and transformative work of Christ in Creation, while also elucidating our calling to participate in it.
2013-06-25T00:00:00ZCraft, Jennifer AllenThis thesis will explore a theology of place and placemaking that is focused on the participatory role of humans in both creation and redemption, while suggesting the central and paradigmatic role of artistry in our construction of and identification with place. Building on the most recent theological and philosophical engagement with place, this thesis will argue for a theology of place that takes seriously the doctrines of creation and incarnation, focusing on a particularly redemptive understanding of placemaking in the material world. In its study of scripture and theology, it will focus on God’s blessing of people to participate in the making of places, along with the role this human making has in relationship to divine presence and the divine plan for creation and redemption. After developing a theology of place and placemaking more generally, the second half of this thesis will consider the practical, constructive, and transformative capabilities of placemaking as witnessed through the arts. Relying on theological engagement with the arts, it will argue that artistic making of all kinds and attention to place go hand in hand. Exploring a selection of artistic genres, including the photography of Marlene Creates, the quilts of Gee’s Bend, and the literature of Wendell Berry, this thesis will suggest that imaginative and “artistic” placemaking practices can give us a deeper understanding of the creative, redemptive, and transformative work of Christ in Creation, while also elucidating our calling to participate in it.Available actors, appropriate action : theodramatic formation and performanceVander Lugt, Wesleyhttp://hdl.handle.net/10023/37282016-10-21T23:16:59Z2013-06-25T00:00:00ZSituated within the theatrical turn in Christian theology, this project explores theatre as a model for theological ethics, looking particularly at the dynamic interplay between formation as disponibility (availability) and performance as fittingness (appropriateness). A primary goal is to demonstrate how disponible formation and fitting performance are multi-dimensional realities oriented simultaneously toward the triune God (as playwright-producer-protagonist), Scripture (as transcript and prescript), the church (as characters in company), tradition (as performance paradigms), unbelievers (as audience), and local context (as theatrical environment and place). As a result, this theodramatic approach seeks to integrate theology and ethics, describing and resourcing everyday Christian practice with reflection on the theodrama. In addition, focusing on the dynamic interplay between formation and performance represents an attempt to unify agent-oriented with action-oriented theological ethics within a holistic, theodramatic framework. Finally, through attentive interaction with theatrical theory and practice, this project contributes to a fruitful and growing dialogue between Christian theology and the arts, particularly how theatre provides imaginative, heuristic models for theological ethics pursued within the liberating constraints of confessional Christianity.
2013-06-25T00:00:00ZVander Lugt, WesleySituated within the theatrical turn in Christian theology, this project explores theatre as a model for theological ethics, looking particularly at the dynamic interplay between formation as disponibility (availability) and performance as fittingness (appropriateness). A primary goal is to demonstrate how disponible formation and fitting performance are multi-dimensional realities oriented simultaneously toward the triune God (as playwright-producer-protagonist), Scripture (as transcript and prescript), the church (as characters in company), tradition (as performance paradigms), unbelievers (as audience), and local context (as theatrical environment and place). As a result, this theodramatic approach seeks to integrate theology and ethics, describing and resourcing everyday Christian practice with reflection on the theodrama. In addition, focusing on the dynamic interplay between formation and performance represents an attempt to unify agent-oriented with action-oriented theological ethics within a holistic, theodramatic framework. Finally, through attentive interaction with theatrical theory and practice, this project contributes to a fruitful and growing dialogue between Christian theology and the arts, particularly how theatre provides imaginative, heuristic models for theological ethics pursued within the liberating constraints of confessional Christianity.The dramatising of theology : humanity’s participation in God’s drama with particular reference to the theologies of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Karl BarthFarlow, Matthew S.http://hdl.handle.net/10023/21022016-03-28T13:04:15Z2011-11-30T00:00:00ZThe aim of this project is to investigate the proper response of theology to the Christian God who, as revealed through revelation, is Being-in-act. This project takes seriously the idea posited by Shakespeare, that totus mundus agit histrionem, and upon this stage ‘all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts.’ If, then, God’s Being is in act, and as so many have deduced, life and death are enveloped within the drama of everyday, then, might it be possible that our theological endeavours would prosper through a dramatic rendering? In light of this, the project seeks to illumine that it is beneficial for both the Church and society, to realise how drama can be, and is, fruitful for our theological endeavours. God is Being-in-act, and through His revelation, He invites humanity to enter into and participate in His action. In light of the aforementioned, then, theology must contend with the implications for its practices, which, as is being argued, are benefited most through a full embrace of the dramatising of theology.
The thesis is situated in the recent movement of our theological endeavours that recognise the profundity of the dramatic and its ability to illuminate God’s action and call to action from theology, the Church and society. Moving forward from the seminal work of Hans Urs von Balthasar, and set forth in the context of the theologies of Balthasar and Karl Barth, this project argues that it is through the dramatising of theology that theology is best equipped to illumine God’s desire for humanity’s participation in His Theo-drama. The dramatising of theology is a natural response to God’s Being-in-act; it is the natural movement of theology’s response to God’s action which calls for an active response on our part. Current examples of today’s theological movement towards the dramatic can be seen in such authors as Max Harris, Trevor Hart, Stanley Hauerwas, Michael Horton, Todd Johnson and Dale Savidge, Ben Quash, Kevin Vanhoozer, Samuel Wells and N.T. Wright. This project hopes to contribute to the movement towards the dramatising of theology.
2011-11-30T00:00:00ZFarlow, Matthew S.The aim of this project is to investigate the proper response of theology to the Christian God who, as revealed through revelation, is Being-in-act. This project takes seriously the idea posited by Shakespeare, that totus mundus agit histrionem, and upon this stage ‘all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts.’ If, then, God’s Being is in act, and as so many have deduced, life and death are enveloped within the drama of everyday, then, might it be possible that our theological endeavours would prosper through a dramatic rendering? In light of this, the project seeks to illumine that it is beneficial for both the Church and society, to realise how drama can be, and is, fruitful for our theological endeavours. God is Being-in-act, and through His revelation, He invites humanity to enter into and participate in His action. In light of the aforementioned, then, theology must contend with the implications for its practices, which, as is being argued, are benefited most through a full embrace of the dramatising of theology.
The thesis is situated in the recent movement of our theological endeavours that recognise the profundity of the dramatic and its ability to illuminate God’s action and call to action from theology, the Church and society. Moving forward from the seminal work of Hans Urs von Balthasar, and set forth in the context of the theologies of Balthasar and Karl Barth, this project argues that it is through the dramatising of theology that theology is best equipped to illumine God’s desire for humanity’s participation in His Theo-drama. The dramatising of theology is a natural response to God’s Being-in-act; it is the natural movement of theology’s response to God’s action which calls for an active response on our part. Current examples of today’s theological movement towards the dramatic can be seen in such authors as Max Harris, Trevor Hart, Stanley Hauerwas, Michael Horton, Todd Johnson and Dale Savidge, Ben Quash, Kevin Vanhoozer, Samuel Wells and N.T. Wright. This project hopes to contribute to the movement towards the dramatising of theology.